


M.I.A.

by QuietLittleVoices



Series: The Other Side [1]
Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - The X Files, F/M, Gen, M/M, The Science Institute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-13
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-06-10 01:58:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15281085
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QuietLittleVoices/pseuds/QuietLittleVoices
Summary: Agent Sammy Stevens is assigned a new partner, Agent Ben Arnold, and they are sent on the case of the disappearance of Lieutenant Tim Jensen.[Or: The Psuedo-X Files AU]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't... a traditional X-Files AU. Read it and find out!
> 
> The whole fic is written and I'll post the chapters daily.

Sammy was throwing pencils up at the ceiling of his basement office when his ‘new partner’ walked in.

There was a knock and then the young man poked his head in. “Agent Stevens? I’m Ben Arnold, I’ve been assigned to work with you?”

Sammy got out of the chair and pulled himself to full height, easily half a foot taller than the other man. He took Ben’s hand from where it was resting at his side and shook it, clearly surprising him. “How’d you get stuck with this detail, Arnold?” he asked with a smirk.

“I asked for it,” Ben said, which startled Sammy. “I’ve heard a lot about you and your - your work.”

Sammy raised an eyebrow. “ _ I _ didn’t even ask for this job. Anyway, I was under the impression that you were here to… keep an eye on me.”

Ben looked a bit sheepish. “It was… suggested that I send field reports, since you haven’t bothered to file them since your last partner left.”

Sammy’s jaw tightened. “He didn’t leave.”

“Then what-?”

Sammy snatched up one of his slides and put it on the beat up projector. It showed an empty car pulled over to the side of the road. “Colorado, a thirty year old man was driving home from work and never made it home. They found his car still running in the middle of the road. There is no sign of foul play or of the man. His wife reported that he called her talking about ‘rainbow lights’. What are your thoughts, Doctor Arnold?”

Ben looked a bit embarrassed at Sammy pulling his title. “I’m looking to take your lead, here. I’m not… formally experienced in unexplained phenomenon.”

Sammy raised an eyebrow and sat on his desk. “Informally?” he paused and Ben didn’t answer. “Do you believe in the existence of extraterrestrials?”

Ben licked his lips uncomfortably. “I mean - yes. Don’t you?”

Sammy couldn’t help but laugh. “No. There’s a logical explanation for everything.” He reached over and changed the slide on the projector, now showing a man looking blankly into the camera. It looked like an official headshot. “This is Lieutenant Tim Jensen, the man we’re looking for. He was a pilot in the air force until he was honourably discharged last year, and his wife said he came back different. Likely PTSD which, as I’m sure you’re aware, can cause someone to do irrational things if left untreated. It’s possible that Lieutenant Jensen, here, got out of his car and walked away, which is why it was locked with no signs of anything.”

All of a sudden, Ben looked confused and concerned. “You said his name’s Tim Jensen?”

“So I’ve been told,” Sammy confirmed.

“And… this is in Colorado?”

“What are you thinking about, Arnold?” Sammy asked, leaning back on his desk and crossing his arms.

Ben took a deep breath. “It wouldn’t happen to be in King Falls, would it?”

Sammy felt himself freeze. “How would you know that?” He wanted to get up in his space, ask how he could  _ possibly  _ have heard of this place, ask if he knew anything about -

But he didn’t, he couldn’t. Ben looked genuinely frightened and the blood had left his face, giving him a sickly pallor. “I - I don’t know if this will be a conflict of interest,” Ben said, trying to get his bearings and deepen his breathing to visibly keep from hyperventilating, “but I grew up there. I knew him - I went to high-school with him, I know his wife, Mary. I’ve met their kids.”

Sammy took a moment to digest the information. On one hand, it was almost certainly a massive conflict of interest. Ben knew these people, cared about them, might make promises he couldn’t keep and would probably be devastated if he couldn’t fix their problems. But on the other, this was the closest link that Sammy had found to King Falls since - since Jack had disappeared. He couldn’t let it slip through his fingers, because Director Spears wasn’t going to let him investigate without a partner keeping him on a tether.

He stood up again. “I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow, Arnold,” he said. “We leave for Colorado at eight A.M.” He walked past him, leaving him alone in the cluttered office.

 

“Why do you investigate these cases if you don’t believe them?” Ben asked when they were on the plane.

Sammy was startled from the book in his lap, both by the interruption and the question itself. He deliberated for a moment before answering. “I was assigned to them. My - my partner believed them.”

“And your partner,” Ben started slowly, clearly noticing Sammy’s tense mood but wanting to ask the question anyway, “that was Jack Wright, wasn’t it?”

Sammy nodded, a single jerky motion. “You would be correct.”

“If he believed them, why did he quit? That was pretty recent, wasn’t it?”

“He didn’t quit,” Sammy snapped, setting his jaw. He closed his eyes. “He didn’t quit,” he repeated more quietly.

“Then why -”

“We’re not talking about it,” Sammy said, effectively ending the conversation.

Ben looked embarrassed and cowed by Sammy’s briskness. Sammy tried not to feel bad about it but Ben’s face was just so open and genuine that Sammy knew he would take it back if he had realized how sensitive a topic it was. If only he really knew, well - Sammy wasn’t sure what his expression would be then. 

 

They couldn’t fly directly to King Falls so they landed in Denver and rented a car. Ben insisted they get lunch on their way in, because while it wasn’t quite lunch time locally, it was according to their bodies. Sammy conceded the pit stop but tried to get Ben back on track as quickly as possible. 

They ended up at the Jensen’s house just after noon and Sammy knocked on the door. He realized immediately that the woman who opened the door for them must be Mary - she looked about the right age, but there was something behind her eyes. Lieutenant Jensen had been gone a week and she looked as if she had aged ten years. She looked exhausted and Sammy felt a pang of sympathy. 

“Ben?” she said, blinking her eyes as if clearing away fog. Her face came to life as she recognized Ben, not quite adopting a happy expression but one that was present in the situation.

Ben looked a little embarrassed. “Hi, Mary. I wish this was a social call, but - I work for the FBI now, this is my partner Agent Stevens, and we’ve been assigned to look… to look for Tim.”

Mary took a breath and nodded, fluttering her hands as if to smooth out her clothes but leaving them to hover a few inches too far to do anything. “Your mama said something about that fancy new job when she brought by some food for me and the kids. Didn’t expect you to show up for it, though. Does she know you’re home?”

Ben nodded. “I called her last night, don’t worry. Would you mind talking to us for a minute? We just want some more information about… about the night Tim went missing, and before then.”

“I can’t stay too long - the kids are at my sister’s house today, but I have to pick them up in an hour.” She opened the door and nodded inside.

“Of course,” Sammy cut in. He’d been content to allow Ben to lead the conversation because of their rapport, but he was more experienced with interviews and Ben might leave out questions without thinking because he thought he knew the answers or was worried about offending Mary. “We have some of the basics, but it’s just helpful to hear it firsthand. Any time you can offer is good, Mrs. Jensen.”

Mary gave him a small smile that barely creased her cheeks as she sat down in the cluttered living room. “Call me Mary,” she insisted awkwardly. “I would have cleaned up if I knew I was expectin’ company.”

“It’s perfectly fine,” Sammy said evenly. “You can call me Sammy.”

Ben gave him a slightly surprised look, because offering first names was a slight break from protocol. Sammy wasn’t concerned about it, though, because if Ben knew this woman then protocols were already being broken and it would ease the tension to not have one person constantly being referred to as ‘agent’.

They both took seats on the sofa across from Mary in the armchair. “Can I start with the last year?” Sammy asked. “I was told that Tim was acting differently since his discharge. How?”

Mary took a deep breath and looked at Ben for reassurance. He smiled at her and she nodded, steeling herself for the conversation. “He just wasn’t…  _ my _ Tim. Most of the time he was fine, but then - sometimes I’d wake up and he’d just be watching static on the TV, or the black screen. We would be talking and he would just - stop. He’d go still and then walk out of the house, go somewhere for hours, and come back like nothing happened. Once, he was gone for three days. I reported him missing then, too, but they didn’t take it seriously because someone saw him in town. It’s been eight days, now, and I don’t think Sheriff Gunderson is taking it seriously - frankly, I’m surprised you two are here at all. Who asked you to come, anyway?”

“We were assigned to come here, Mary. We examine these kinds of cases,” Sammy answered, trying to smooth over that line of inquiry to move on to what he wanted to know from her. “You say he went missing a few times. How is this different from then?”

Mary pressed her lips together and Ben gave him a warning looking, which he ignored. He didn’t care if Mary ended up mad at him; it wasn’t his job to coddle or become friends with people, and he’d always taken a ‘bad cop’ role with Jack. “His car was just left there,” she said. “Before, it was like he drove away on his own - he took his car, and usually an overnight bag or something. But his car was just in the street. And - well. You’re gonna think I’m crazy.”

Sammy shook his head. “You can tell us anything, Mary.”

She looked at Ben again. “Two weeks ago, Tim came back home again. The  _ real _ Tim.”

“I feel like I’m missing something,” Sammy said. “What do you mean he came back home? From being missing for a few days?”

She shook her head. “Tim came home from the army just over a year ago, only it wasn’t _ my  _ Tim.  _ My _ Tim came back two weeks ago.”

“Do you mean… he was getting better?” If Tim  _ had _ been getting treatment for PTSD, then it was possible he’d had a breakthrough a few weeks ago, and a backslide more recently. 

“They were both standing in my living room. Right here,” she said, obviously still shaken from whatever she had witnessed.

“Like twins?”

“Tim didn’t have a twin,” Ben said slowly, speaking for the first time since they had sat down. He seemed just as frightened by the idea as Mary.

“So… a doppelgänger, then,” Sammy decided, even though he didn’t really believe it. He wasn’t sure what was going on, though. “Two men who looked like Tim were here, and one disappeared. Which one was that, and where is the other one?”

Mary looked upset. “I don’t know. I think it was my Tim who disappeared, because he called me and - and he sounded like mine. I don’t know where the other one went. I haven’t seen him since then, either.”

 

“We weren’t assigned to look at this case, were we?” Ben asked when they got in the car.

“Of course we were,” Sammy replied. 

“Don’t lie. I know Sheriff Gunderson and if what Mary said is true then he isn’t taking this seriously enough to call the FBI.”

“Director Spears gave me the file.” At his request, but Sammy didn’t add that. “You can call her an ask.”

“Why are we here?” Ben asked simply.

Just as Sammy was about to answer, the car radio started flipping through stations rapidly. He pulled over, ignoring Ben’s confused look, and pulled a can of purple spray paint out of the trunk and quickly sprayed an X on the road.

“What was  _ that _ about?” Ben asked.

Sammy shrugged and pulled the car back onto the road. “Nothing. What do you think about Mary’s story?”

“About the two Tim’s? I don’t know. But I’ve known Tim and Mary my whole life - he’s never had a twin. He doesn’t even have siblings.  _ Mary _ has a twin, her sister.”

“Identical?” Sammy asked.

“Yeah. Why does that matter?”

“I don’t know. Maybe it doesn’t.”

“What do you think of this? Since you have the experience.”

Sammy considered his answer. “I think she’s grieving. She’s been through a lot. I don’t know what’s wrong yet.”  _ Jack would have theories _ , he doesn’t say. 

Ben sighed. “We should go talk to Troy - Deputy Kriegshauser. I don’t trust Gunderson, but… I trust Troy. He’d take Tim’s case seriously, but tell us honestly if there’s nothing there.”

 

They stopped by the Sheriff’s office and were told that Troy was out on patrol, so they drove around until they found his vehicle parked on the side of Route 72 and pulled up behind him. Ben jumped out of the passenger door with barely a look into traffic (not that there was any, Sammy noted) and waved at the car enthusiastically. 

Troy got out at the same time as Sammy and gave them both a wide grin, catching Ben in a quick hug. “Hey, little buddy. What’s got you out here?”

Ben’s enthusiasm dimmed. “It’s, uh, work, actually. This is my partner, Agent Stevens - we’re, well, investigating Tim’s disappearance.”

Troy’s expression sobered immediately. “S’why I’m out here, honestly. I keep thinkin’ about it - I was just ‘round the corner, you know. Saw the lights and tried to head over, but it was too late.” He shook his head sadly. “It’s a sad thing, what’s happened. What Mary’s been through, too.”

“Deputy Kriegshauser,” Sammy started, interrupting the solemn moment, “do you mind if I ask a few questions about Tim? I don’t know him like you two, and want to understand.”

“Aw, well, call me Troy - any friend of Ben’s a friend of mine,” Troy said jovially. “But shoot, ask away.”

“We’re colleagues,” Sammy said immediately, because he’s just met Ben, but from the way the his shoulders slump it’s clear that Sammy said it too harshly. “But call me Sammy,” he adds, trying to soften the hurt. “I just wanted to know if you’ve had any run-ins with Tim, in a professional capacity.”

Troy looked uncomfortable, shifting his weight. “It’s, well - I feel bad sayin’ it, since he’s gone and all - not  _ gone _ gone, I don’t think he’s dead, but -”

“I understand,” Sammy interrupted, trying to get Troy back on track. “What happened, Troy?”

“Well,” Troy started, shifting his weight once more and putting himself into a more professional posture, as if the mindset would follow. “Found him wandering the streets a couple days before - before  _ it _ happened. He was talking nonsense about - doubles and what-not. Took him in, left him in the drunk tank overnight, and sent him home with a slap on the wrist and an order to buy Mary flowers.”

Sammy nodded. “Thanks, Troy. We’ll call if we need more, okay?”

“Sounds good, buddy,” Troy replied. He turned to Ben. “Call me before you head off back to your fancy office, okay? We gotta catch up!”

“Fancy office, sure,” Ben said with a slightly uncomfortable laugh. “Yeah, I’ll let you know. We can grab Rose’s. I’ll see you later.”

“I’ll hold you to it!” Troy called after them as they went back into the car. 

Sammy pulled back onto the road and Tory waved at them for a few seconds before going back into his car. “Well he was-”

“I know Troy’s a lot sometimes,” Ben said quickly. “He’s a nice guy. We had some problems, way back when, but he really went above and beyond fixing them. He’s one of my best friends now.”

“I was gonna say he was nice,” Sammy replied. “But what he said about Tim - he had a delusional drunk episode a few days before he disappeared. That can’t be nothing.”

Ben nodded. “No, I get that. But remember - Mary said he was talking about the rainbow lights, right? Troy said he saw the lights, too.”

“Troy didn’t say  _ rainbow _ lights, it could have been - headlights or anything else.”

“I know you don’t believe in this stuff,” Ben said, “and God knows I don’t understand why you do this job if you don’t, but I grew up here. Let me take you to someone who’ll know more about the rainbow lights than anyone else.”

“I’m not letting you drive. But tell me the way.”

 

Ben lead him to King Falls Public Library. When they walked in, Sammy noticed a few people working or looking at books, and a woman alone behind the front desk. She looked up when they entered and smiled widely at Ben.

“Benny!” she said, excitedly but quietly, as she rounded the desk and gave him a hug. “What are you doing in town?”

“I’m actually on official business,” he said, much more confident and proud now than when they were talking to Troy. He straightened the lapels of his suit jacket for emphasis. “This is my partner, Agent Stevens.”

“Hello. Nice to meet you, Miss -?”

“Potter,” she said, reaching out to shake his hand. He was a little surprised at how firm her handshake was. “Emily Potter, head librarian here at King Falls Public Library.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Potter. We’re actually here investigating the disappearance of Tim Jensen,” Sammy explained, and Emily turned her face down and nodded. “Ben told me you knew a bit about the rainbow lights, so we wanted to ask a few questions.”

Emily laughed uncomfortably. “I know a bit, yeah,” she said, and Sammy could tell that it might be an understatement. He wondered how much she knew, and why. She clasped her hands in front of herself and gave him a smile. “What would you like to know?”

“Honestly, I don’t really know anything about them -”

“Where they around recently?” Ben cut in, and Sammy gave him a warning look that he either didn’t see or chose to ignore.

Emily nodded. “Every night for about two weeks, leading up to Tim’s disappearance, they were spotted in the sky in different places around town. Route 72, of course, and Old Bombing Range Road. The King Falls Memorial Gardens, the Science Institute, and Perdition Woods,” she listed, ticking them off on her fingers. “Oh, and out by Libbydale Farms once. But they haven’t been seen since Tim disappeared.”

Sammy nodded. “Okay, so these lights are seen all over. And lots of people see them?”

“Oh, yeah. A few people report them every night, usually to me since - well. I’m the expert.” She looked a little embarrassed to admit it, but Ben looked at her with admiration.

“So what  _ are  _ these lights? Helicopter? Plane? Ground lights? What’s going on here?” Sammy asked.

“They’re UFOs,” she answered evenly, like it was the most obvious answer in the world, and Sammy wished - as he did almost constantly - that Jack was there to deal with it. 

“Of course they are.”

“You’ll forgive my partner,” Ben cut in. “He’s a skeptic.”

Emily smiled knowingly and nodded. “Of course. Well, Agent Stevens, they’re unidentified because we don’t  _ really _ know what they are, and it’s pretty clear that they’re flying, and presumably they’re ‘objects’, unless that’s changed meanings now. So that makes them UFOs, wouldn’t you agree?”

Sammy almost laughed. He admired her tenacity. “I guess you’re right, Miss Potter. UFOs they are, then.”

“Mary told us something when we spoke to her,” Ben said. “Before the disappearance, she saw two-”

“Don’t,” Sammy warned.

“Two Tim’s in her living room.”

Sammy resisted the urge to put his head in his hands and made a mental note to talk to Ben about sharing unsubstantiated claims with people they were interviewing.

Emily looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“Like doppelgängers,” Ben said, looking at Sammy smugly as he used his terminology against him. “She saw two of them just standing there. Do you think that could have anything to do with it?”

Emily bit her lip and thought about it. “I haven’t heard about that in connection to the rainbow lights, but I can look into it, if you’d like.”

Ben nodded eagerly. “Sure. Call if you find anything? Or - or just want to chat. I’ll be in town for a few days.”

Emily smiled at him softly. “Of course. We’ll talk before you go. Good luck.”

“Thanks. I’ll talk to you later?” Ben said hopefully. 

Emily nodded and waved at them as Sammy practically dragged Ben away and back to the car.

“That was illuminating,  _ Benny _ ,” Sammy teased as they got into the car.

“Ben,” he replied coldly. “She knows all there is to know about the rainbow lights.”

“I can tell. Why? Just professional curiosity?”

Ben looked a little uncomfortable. “It’s not really my story to tell. Just trust that she knows her stuff.”

Sammy was silent for a minute before he decided what to say. “She was pretty into you, too, you know. Don’t think I didn’t notice.”

Ben blushed, possibly inventing a new shade of red. “No - what? No. She isn’t - no. No.”

Sammy raised an eyebrow. “I know flirting when I see it. You let her call you  _ Benny _ .”

“She’s just always called me that,” he muttered. “We’ve known each other for a long time and it’s - it’s complicated, okay, Sammy? There’s just a lot of… context needed, and I don’t really want to talk about it right now.”

“Okay, no problem. Sorry for bringing it up.”

Ben shook his head. “It’s fine, you didn’t know.”

 

It wasn’t that Sammy thought Emily was a dishonest person, or doubted her credibility, but it was obvious that Ben was blinded by whatever feelings it was he had for her.

Ben had gone to his mother’s house the night before and hadn’t returned, so Sammy left a note and headed off to visit the psychiatrist that Mary had said Tim had been going to. The address she had given was for King Falls Public Hospital, and Sammy was surprised when the receptionist sent him down a floor. The lower level of the hospital was much quieter than the ground floor had been, and appeared to have several offices off the main hallway. He finally located the one with a slide-in card reading  _ Dr. Rosenblum _ and knocked. It swung open under the pressure and revealed a small office, extremely cluttered but empty.

Sammy stood there for a second, feeling awkwardly out of place, until a woman in a lab coat stopped next to him. “Looking for Doctor Rosenblum?” she asked, and he nodded.

She craned her head behind her, indicating a large set of metal double doors at the end of the hallway. “He’s back there. Knock on the second set of doors, don’t just barge in.”

“Thanks,” Sammy said, and walked away from the empty office and towards the doors. Above them, there was a sign announcing that this was the hospital’s morgue, and Sammy wasn’t sure why Tim’s psychiatrist would be down there.

He followed the woman’s instructions and entered the first set of doors into a small room with a washing station and a shelf with boxes of gloves and sterile shoe coverings, as well as a small closet with what most closely resembled painting suits. He could hear something that sounded almost like a saw whirring through the door, so he knocked loudly, hoping to be heard over the noise.

The sound stopped after a few moments, and soon after the door opened and he was joined in the small space by a man who appeared to be a few years older than Sammy, peering up at him emotionlessly as he peeled off his gloves. There was a spattering of something on his white coat that Sammy tried not think about and failed, feeling slightly ill.

“Hello,” the man said, and his voice was deeper and slower than Sammy expected. “Who… are you?”

Sammy blinked. “Hi, I’m Agent Stevens with the F.B.I.; I’m looking for Doctor Rosenblum.”

An odd smile spread on the man’s face, just as slowly as his speech. “Speaking,” he replied, gesturing to himself.

“Okay,” Sammy replied, feeling off-kilter. “Were you Tim Jensen’s psychiatrist?”

“Why… yes… in fact… I am,” he confirmed. “I’m… a mortician, by trade… but Tim…  _ trusted _ me.”

Sammy took a deep breath, preparing himself for how this conversation might go. “Is there anything you can tell me about his - mental state, or anything else?”

“No… doctor-patient… privilege, and all,” he explained. “But… I can say… he flew… the experimental planes… for the Science Institute.”

“What does that mean?” Sammy asked. “I knew he was a pilot.” He wished that he could just let it go and get out of there; it felt like the temperature in the room had dropped several degrees since the doctor had walked in.

“Men who fly… the experimental planes… all come back… different,” the doctor explained.

“Okay, well, Science Institute - I’ll look into it,” Sammy said quickly. “I think that’s all; I have your number if I need to ask more, but I think we’re done!”

Before the doctor could reply, but left the doors and got out of the hospital as fast as he could.

 

“Why would you go talk to Doctor Rosenblum without me?” Ben demanded when Sammy got back to the motel.

Sammy shrugged. “You weren’t here? I didn’t want to wait or interrupt time with your mom.”

“I wasn’t with my mom,” Ben sighed. “And I know Rosenblum; he’s been the coroner for like, ever. I worked with him while I was doing my residency here!”

“You did a morgue rotation?” Sammy asked, surprised.

“Of course I did,” Ben said exasperatedly. “I can do autopsies. Did no one tell you anything about my work?”

Sammy shrugged. “You’re a medical doctor, and you wrote your dissertation on… something-something, biology. I’m gonna be honest, the science stuff goes over my head.”

“The contribution of ion channel mutations to neuro-degeneration.”

“Yeah, that. I tried to read it!”

Ben pressed his lips together. “Sure, okay. It’s fine, dude, like - I get it. But you realize I’m a doctor, for real, right? I could have helped you in there, because I know my shit. Plus, I know Doctor Rosenblum specifically. I could have warned you that he’s - like that, at least.”

“You mean creepy as hell?” Sammy offered. “You’re definitely talking to him if we have to again; I did my time.”

“Yeah, that. Just - remember, for next time, okay?”

“Of course. I’m sorry,” Sammy said, trying to make his expression show how genuine he felt. “Hey,” he added, realizing something. “If you weren’t with your mom this morning, where were you?”

Ben blushed. “Getting breakfast with Emily,” he said, attempting a casual and light tone but missing by a mile.

Sammy hummed knowingly. “And how was that?”

Ben shrugged, not meeting his eye. “Fine. Nice. I haven’t been in town for a while, it was nice to catch up. She actually mentioned that sometimes the rainbow lights come from the Science Institute, so that’s probably connected!” he added quickly, obviously hoping to change the subject.

“We’ll look into it,” Sammy conceded. “What’s the story with you two, anyway.”

Ben sighed and sat down on his bed as of yet unused bed. “It’s complicated.”

“You said that. If you really don’t want to say, I won’t force it.” Sammy knew more than well enough what it felt like to be cornered into a conversation about something you kept buried. 

Ben shook his head. “It’s just - we’re really good friends, now. When I was doing my residency here, we had a bit of a thing? Not really dating, but. A  _ thing _ , you know?” Sammy didn’t know, but he nodded anyway. “I was sort of losing my mind with stress and I just - messed it all up. Too pushy, too possessive - whatever. I fucked up, and I wouldn’t do it now; I know better. But she really tore into me about it, and I deserved it, but that sort of ended up friendship for a while. We only started talking again when I went away for training, so I’m not - not gonna mess it up again. She knows where I stand; if she wants something other than what our situation is now, then she can tell me. But I’m not going to say anything about it again, I don’t think.”

Sammy nodded and put a reassuring hand on Ben’s shoulder. “That’s rough. It’ll work out, though - she looks at you like-”

“Don’t really want to talk about it,” Ben interrupted. “If you’re not a science guy, what’s your speciality, anyway?”

“I was a journalism major, back in university, but that was - well, a long time ago,” Sammy admitted. “Worked for a couple newspapers before joining the F.B.I. - that’s where-” he cut himself off. “That’s where I got good at interviews,” he finished lamely, the false tone of it ringing clear if Ben’s raised eyebrow was any indication. He’d met Lily at the newspaper, and heard all about her F.B.I. agent brother - Sammy had already applied, was just waiting to hear back and get dates for training. But he didn’t want to say that, didn’t want to admit that he’d known Jack for over ten years because of any of the potential questions that might raise. “Anyway,” Sammy added after a few moments of silence. “What do you know about the Science Institute?”

Ben shrugged, allowing himself to be moved to the new topic easily. “Opened a few years ago, about four or five I’d say. Pretty secretive, but bring in a lot of money for the town, I think.”

“Do you think they’d be involved in military projects and weird lights?”

“I wouldn’t put much past them, honestly,” Ben admitted. “They’re kind of skeevy, from what I’ve heard. Manipulative, almost cult-y.”

Sammy nodded. “We should look into them. Do we have time to drive over this afternoon?”

Ben looked at his watch. “Probably. It’s on the edge of town, so it should only take about twenty minutes to get to from here. They don’t really have traditional hours, and I’m pretty sure Leland Hill lives on site, so it should be fine.”

 

They went to the Science Institute after getting lunch with Troy. Sammy turned into the hidden driveway and within a hundred feet had to stop because of two cars waiting, covering the whole road. Sammy got out and motioned for Ben to follow him, taking his badge out of his pocket and displaying it to the cars.

A well dressed man who appeared to be in his fifties got out of the back of one of the cars and approached them, followed soon by several armed security guards.

“Who, may I ask, are you?” the man asked. “And what business do you have coming to my Institute?”

“You must be Leland Hill,” Sammy started. “I’m Agent Stevens, and this is my partner, Agent Arnold. We’re from the F.B.I., and we just have a couple questions for you regarding the disappearance of Tim Jensen, if you wouldn’t mind talking to us for a few minutes.”

The man’s defensive posture shifted to one of openness and he smiled at them. It did nothing to help how on-edge Sammy was feeling. “Oh, federal agents. I see. Follow us in your car, we’ll speak with you in the Institute.”

He didn’t leave room for discussion, turning around and getting into the car he’d come from. The security people followed him after a moment. Sammy gave Ben a look over the top of the car and Ben shrugged, looking just as confused as Sammy. They got into the car and followed them up the winding dirt road, up to the Institute.

It looked like a military compound or a prison. Several large cement buildings connected by outdoor hallways, appearing to create a courtyard in the middle, and the whole thing was situated in the middle of a man-made clearing. There was no grass after the tree line, just patted down dirt. Sammy parked near the edge, as close to the road out as he could.

“I’m gonna text Troy,” Ben decided. “If he doesn’t hear from us in two hours, come looking.”

“We’re not going to get kidnapped,” Sammy said, trying for a reassuring tone. He got a strange vibe from the whole place, and especially from Leland, but he was fairly certain they weren’t just going to kidnap two federal agents. Hopefully.

Ben shrugged, sending off the text and sliding his phone back into his pocket.

They both got out of the car and walked towards where Leland Hill was standing in front of the entrance. “Is this your first time visiting the Science Institute?” he asked jovially, and both Sammy and Ben nodded uncomfortably. “Good. We’ll start off with a tour.” He turned on his heel, leaving Sammy and Ben to scramble after him through the quickly closing door.

The lobby of the Science Institute wasn’t quite opulent, but it was a lot nicer to look at than the outside. Everything was sleek, white stone with glass accents. The desk, lighting fixtures, and half-walls dividing sections of the room were all a blue-tinted tempered glass. It gave the whole room a very open but cold feeling, and Sammy almost wished he had a real jacket.

Leland walked a few feet in front of them, not looking back as he narrated the history of the Science Institute and this branch, in particular. He opened a few doors to show people in discussion or study, appearing to do so at random. 

Ben fell a few steps back from Sammy, looking into the windows of the some of the other rooms that they were passing by very quickly, and noticed something that made him run back to join Sammy.

Leland made the tour drag out, not letting Sammy or Ben get any real questions in edgewise, and politely but firmly made them leave afterwards.

“What was that about?” Sammy asked as they got back into their car. “When you were all-” he made a vague movement with his hand, trying to indicate  _ frantic _ and falling closer to uncertainty.

Ben understood anyway. “I saw Tim, Sammy. He was in one of the study rooms, just staring forward.”

Sammy shook his head and pulled out of the grounds. “No way. You probably confused him with someone.”

“No, I definitely didn’t. He was facing forward, but the room was on my right and facing west, so I could see the right side of his face. He has a scar like this -” Ben drew a line from the top of his cheekbone diagonally down to just under the corner of his mouth. “He got it falling off the barn roof down at Libbydale farms when we were sixteen.”

“I saw that in his pictures, yeah. But it could still have been anyone, or a trick of the light,” Sammy argued.

Ben folded his arms and leaned back into his seat, and Sammy resisted the urge to make a comment about how young he looked. “Whatever. It was Tim in there.”

“ _ If _ it was,” Sammy allowed, “then he wasn’t being held there. We can’t ‘save’ a person who’s just left home.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the fic; the third chapter is going to be an Epilogue!

Ben was already dressed in civilian clothes when Sammy woke up. “If we’re stuck,” he started, “then I’m gonna go spend the day at my mom’s. You can call if there’s anything, but….” He shrugged. “Might as well spend the downtime with her. Maybe I’ll think of something.”

Sammy nodded. “Yeah, sure. I’ll call if I think of anything.”

Ben nodded back at him and walked out.

Sammy sighed and laid back in bed for a minute before heaving himself out and getting dressed in a work suit. He didn’t have any ideas for Tim’s disappearance, but he had another line of questions he wanted answered by someone who knew about other things around town and he wanted to look as if he was visiting in a professional capacity - and he hadn’t brought any normal clothes, rarely did on cases because his closet was limited to ‘work clothes’ and a small section of jeans and old hoodies.

He went to the Sheriff’s office first and found Troy in his office doing paperwork. Troy looked up when he knocked and smiled. “C’mon in, bud!” he greeted cheerfully.

Sammy entered and closed the door behind him. “Hey, there.”

“Where’s Ben?”

“Visiting his mom,” Sammy replied easily, hoping that the small talk would ease the potentially weirdness of his questions.

Troy got a questioning look on his face. “Day off?”

“Not really,” Sammy said with a shake of his head. “We’re working through some stuff with Tim’s case, so he’s taking a bit of a breather.”

Troy nodded understandingly. “Well, ask away. I’m here to help.”

“This isn’t actually about Tim,” Sammy admitted, licking his lips awkwardly. “It’s - well, it’s a different case I’m working on. Can’t really get into the details right now, you know how it is. I’m looking into Perdition Woods, if you happened to know anything about that.”

Troy took a sharp, deep breath. “Yeah, I happened to know a bit about that. Yeah. Do you wanna take a seat?” Troy asked, indicating the two chairs on the other side of his desk. Sammy sat, folding his feet slightly under the chair. “Is this about a disappearance?”

Sammy nodded. “Yeah,” he said weakly, and cleared his throat. “Yes, it is,” he tried again, trying to inject his voice with more confidence and professionalism.

“Thought so. Folks… folks go missing around those parts,” Troy told him. “Hikers, mostly. If they walk in and take - a certain trail, then they’re likely to not come back out.”

“So it’s… dangerous terrain?” Sammy asked.

Troy barked a laugh. “You could say that. No, terrain’s fine. Easy trail, not much in the way, no surprising dips or curves. Little grown over, now, but nothing too hard even for an amateur. It’s what’s at the end.”

Sammy waited for Troy to follow up that remark, but he didn’t. “What is it?” he prompted.

Troy tapped his pen against the desk, a quick staccato filling the otherwise silent room. “Some call it the Devil’s Doorstep. I wouldn’t suggest you repeat that name, alright? Speaking it… can bring about bad things, especially if you’re close by.”

The gravity with which Troy spoke the warning made Sammy nod, even though he didn’t believe in the power of words and names. Troy clearly did, so Sammy met him where he was at. “Is there any way I can get more information? Say, could the area of effect be larger than the Woods?”

Troy shrugged. “I wouldn’t know about that. But I do know someone who might.” He tore off a corner of notebook paper and jotted something on it. “His name’s Walt. If anyone knows anything about that place, it’s him. If you call, tell him Troy sent you. It’ll make him more… likely to talk to you.”

Sammy was just about to thank him when Troy’s desk phone rang. Troy picked it up and spoke quickly, mostly in police code. Sammy was a bit rusty, and some of it seemed localized, so he barely caught what was happening other than that Troy would have to go out on a call.

Troy hung up. “I’m going to pick two folks up at the Science Institute. Man and a woman. Do you know anything about that?”

Sammy shook his head. “No, but I’m interested.”

Troy stood up. “Officially, I told you not to follow,” he said, and left the office.

Sammy followed.

 

Ben and Emily stood with their hands zip-tied in front of them, surrounded by Science Institute security officers, when Troy and Sammy pulled up. Ben was arguing loudly that they didn’t do anything wrong and had just been looking around, and anyway wasn’t this a public building?

“Is anyone looking to press charges?” Troy asked, speaking to no one in particular as he approached.

Sammy stayed by the car with his arms crossed, trying to convey annoyance and disappointment in his posture.

The security guards looked at one another and then forwards again, saying nothing. Everyone in the clearing fell silent, looking at each other and unsure exactly how to proceed, until Leland Hill exited the building.

“Good morning, everyone,” he said cheerfully. “We won’t be pressing charges on these… curious individuals, today, Deputy.” He walked up behind Ben and Emily and placed a hand on each of their shoulders, causing them both to flinch away from him. “I think they understand that they shouldn’t do that again.”

Ben set his jaw and Emily just looked frightened and pale.

“Appreciate it,” Troy replied. “I’ll take ‘em off your hands.” He motioned for them both to follow him and Ben shook Leland’s hand off sharply.

“You’re telling Spears about this,” Sammy said once Ben was close enough. 

Ben looked down. “Yeah, I know.”

“ _ And _ you’ll explain to me what exactly  _ this _ was.”

Ben’s eyes shifted, looking around them. “Back at the motel, okay? Can all four of us meet there?”

Troy shook his head. “I have to get back to work. But if Miss Potter wants to go back with you, that’s alright by me.”

Emily nodded, the colour slowly starting to return to her face. “That sounds good, thank you, Troy.”

“Let me get scissors outta my car, and I’ll let you all on your way.” He went around to his passenger side and came back with scissors, cutting through Ben and Emily’s zip-ties quickly. Both of them immediately started rubbing their wrists.

The three of them got into the rental car and followed Troy out of the compound. Sammy watched Leland Hill and the guards standing completely still in the rearview until they disappeared.

 

“Explain,” Sammy demanded, shutting the motel door behind him.

“Can I just start with-”

“You’ll start at the beginning,” Sammy said over Ben.

Ben nodded and sat down on a bed. Emily took the desk chair. “I saw Tim there the other day,” he started and Sammy shook his head.

“ _ Thought _ you saw Tim,” he corrected.

Ben scowled. “I  _ thought _ I saw Tim there the other day. We decided to go looking. They found us in the halls and then called Troy. That’s it! That’s all that happened.”

“And?”

“And what? You saw us out there.”

“And did you find anything?” Sammy asked.

“We saw these… test tubes,” Emily said, speaking up for the first time. She looked down at her hands. “Only they weren’t test tubes, they were - maybe eight feet tall? Not quite touching the ceiling but close. Big and wide, full of this - this thick, dark liquid. And they -” she paused, taking a steadying breath. “There were people inside,” she said. “Only they weren’t people. They were all -” she shivered. “Their skin looked like… like a peeled grape, it was all translucent.”

“Probably from the darkness,” Ben said, much less uncomfortable than Emily. “I couldn’t tell if they had fingernails but it didn’t look like they had hair, so they were still being formed or something, I guess.”

Sammy nodded along. “Okay. So - what do you think that means? If that’s what you really saw.”

“You can’t just dismiss what we saw,” Ben argued. “Do you not trust me? I saw that, too.”

“I trust you. I think you believe you saw that.”

“That’s not condescending  _ at all _ .”

Sammy shrugged. “Take whatever you want from it. I’m not convinced a modern organization has perfected human cloning when we can barely make live sheep reliably. You should know better than me that human perception is fallible.”

Ben let out a noise like a frustrated tea kettle. “They’ve got something going on there and it isn’t good.”

“I’m not disagreeing with you,” Sammy said diplomatically. He turned to Emily. “Can I drive you back home? I think we’ve done all we can for today.”

Emily nodded. “Yeah, thanks. I’d appreciate it.” She stood up and smoothed out her shirt. 

Ben stood up as well and Sammy put out a hand. “You’re calling Director Spears and giving her a run-down of what just happened. This better be included in your report.” Ben sat back down, cheeks turning red from anger, embarrassment, or some combination of the two.

Sammy led Emily to the rental car.

“My car’s actually at the Science Institute,” she admitted quietly. “I expect they’ll have it towed by tonight, so I’ll ask Troy when I can pick it up.”

Sammy nodded idly. “So, who was the brains here? You or Ben?”

“It was my idea to go back and look,” she said in a tone that made it clear she was telling the truth. “He didn’t want to, but -”

“He’ll do anything you ask.”

She nodded, looking a little sheepish. “I don’t - I don’t want to take advantage of him or anything.”

“I didn’t think you did. Just be careful, okay?” He turned to look at her for a second before looking back at the road. “I don’t want either of you to get hurt.”

“I bet it would be a lot of paperwork,” she said lightly, trying for a joking tone.

Sammy clenched his fingers around the steering wheel, watching his knuckles go white before he relaxed them. “You’d be surprised.” He sighed. “You two have a lot ahead of you. You deserve to have a chance at it, okay? Don’t throw that away for some whim.”

Emily nodded, realizing the seriousness of Sammy’s statement. “Okay. I promise.”

Sammy kept his eyes ahead and tried not to think about Jack.

 

Because Ben had looked appropriately cowed when Sammy returned, he figured that Ben really had spoken to their Director and decided that they didn’t need to do more work that afternoon.

They stayed in and in the morning were awoken by their phones going off.

“Emily says to turn on the TV,” Ben said, and Sammy had a similar text from Troy.

They did, and found on the local news was a press conference at the Science Institute. On the stage stood Leland Hill and a man that Ben identified as Mayor Grisham. 

And in the background stood Tim Jensen.

“-to thank Leland Hill and the Science Institute for their generous donation to our small town,” Grisham was saying on the screen. “Because of them, we will be able to further many local initiatives-”

Sammy turned to Ben. “So he’s there.”

“Yeah! Like I said!”

“He doesn’t look… captive,” Sammy said delicately.

“That’s probably the clone!” His tone was matter-of-fact, like this should be perfectly obvious, and Sammy made the conscious effort to not pinch the bridge of his nose.

He took a deep breath instead. “We need to talk to Mary.”

 

Mary looked more upset now than she had when they had first spoken to her. “If it was really him, he would have called,” she told them. “He wouldn’t have just - left to go live there without saying anything. I knew he was working from there for a while, with the planes and what-not. He’d tell me.”

Sammy put a hand on her arm reassuringly. “I’m sure he would. Is there any reason you can think of that he would be there, though? Because we saw him on stage with them.”

Mary took a deep breath and sat down. She shook her head. “No, I - I can’t. Not without talking to me. He would have  _ talked to me _ .”

“Tim wouldn’t do anything to hurt you, Mary,” Ben cut in, and Sammy gave him a look. “Was there anything you noticed?”

Mary shook her head again. “No, he was just - just standing there. It was like  _ he _ wasn’t there. I just - I can’t believe he’d be so close. If he was able to call, he would have. He would have let me know he was safe.”

“I believe you, Mary,” Sammy replied quickly, trying to cut in before Ben. “We’re going to do everything in our power to help you. But - if Tim  _ is _ somewhere of his own free will, we can’t do anything about that. Do you understand?”

She nodded. “I know. I understand, I do. I don’t like it much, though.”

They told her goodbye and went back out to the car.

“There’s something that’s still not adding up to me,” Ben said. “The Science Institute isn’t off Route 72, so why was his car just - left there, if he was going to appear a week later anyway?”

“I don’t know. I think that’s something only Tim could tell us, and I think Mary is just - she’s trying to rationalize being left,” he said slowly. “She doesn’t want him to have just left.”

“He wouldn’t have-”

“He might have, Ben,” Sammy said. “You have to admit that he  _ might  _ have done it. I don’t know why, I can’t explain that for him. I don’t know him, but I know people, and he  _ might _ have just left. Sometimes people just  _ leave _ , even if it seems weird, and they don’t give an explanation.”

Ben sighed and got into the car. “He might have, you’re right. It’s hard for me to believe, but - well, I haven’t talked to Tim in a long time. Five years, at least. He’s been through a lot since then.”

 

Leland Hill was already out of the car, parked to block the dirt road, when they turned onto the Science Institutes driveway.

“Nice of you to drop by,” he said, tone even and cold. All the charm from the press conference and their earlier run-ins with him was gone.

“We want to talk to Tim Jensen,” Sammy replied. There was no use beating around the bush.

Leland made a show of looking as if he was thinking about it. “I’m not sure I know who that is. And besides, this isn’t your case anyway. No one called you here.”

“You can ask my boss, if you’d like,” Sammy said. “I’ll even call her for you.”

“I’ll do one better and call the Sheriff instead,” Leland replied coldly.

“Thought you might say that.” Sammy went to get back into the car when Ben bolted out.

“Just one thing - do you know where Tim Jensen is?”

Leland focused his gaze on Ben. “What could possibly make you think that?”

“Get back in the car,” Sammy hissed.

“It’s against federal law to knowingly fund human cloning research,” Ben continued.

Leland opened his arms, palms forward as if showing all his cards. “Wouldn’t know a thing about that.”

Sammy reached over the console and grabbed the corner of Ben’s jacket, giving it a sharp tug. Ben got back in the car and slammed the door.

“How did we get this case, Sammy?” Ben demanded as soon as Sammy had pulled the car around in a tight U.

“Spears sent me the file.” Sammy felt tense, every bump in the road vibrating his teeth as he tried to keep himself focused and present.

“She told me she couldn’t protect me if I got arrested. If we were on a case, I would have protections. Is this just - a weird vacation for you?”

“This isn’t a vacation,” Sammy said. “This isn’t for fun, or whatever you’re thinking. Are you telling me Tim’s disappearance didn’t seem like a legitimate case?”

“It did! But you never seemed to think it was!” Ben argued. “Why did you take it?”

“We’re going back to D.C. tomorrow,” Sammy said with an air of finality. “So it doesn’t matter.”

Ben set his jaw, visilby seething. “I don’t understand anything about you.”

“I don’t expect you to.”

 

Sammy let the car idle in the motel parking lot.

“I have something to do,” both men said in unison and looked at each other, both trying not to laugh at the coincidence with the tense atmosphere still in the car.

“I’m taking this, though,” Sammy said, indicating the vehicle.

Ben nodded. “That’s fine. Let me off here.”

“Did you want me to - to drive you to your mom’s? Or Emily’s?”

“No, it’s fine. I’m gonna call my mom,” he replied with a shake of his head.

“Okay. I won’t be gone for too long.” 

Ben got out of the car and Sammy waited for him to enter the motel room before pulling out his phone and synching up the bluetooth. He called the number Troy had given him and pulled out of the lot, heading towards Route 72 and the entrance he knew of to the hiking trails of Perdition Woods.

The phone rang for a longer time than Sammy was comfortable with, going past six rings. It reached ten before someone picked up.

“Hello?” a voice asked on the other end of the line.

“Deputy Kriegshauser gave me this number,” Sammy said quickly. “My name’s Agent Stevens, I’m with the F.B.I.. I just have a few questions about Perdition Woods and… and people going missing around there.”

There was silence for a long moment. “Are you looking for someone in particular, Agent Stevens?”

Sammy felt his mouth go dry. “I -  _ fuck _ .” He swerved the car quickly to avoid hitting the person who had just run out into the road. “I’m gonna call you back.” He hit the  _ end call _ button on the steering wheel just as the man ran over to his window. He realized too late that it was Tim Jensen, and that he was completely nude. Sammy rolled down the window half-way.

“You’ve gotta help me,” Tim begged. “Please, just - just take me home. Take me to my wife.”

Sammy reached over and popped the passenger door open and Tim ran around and sat down. Sammy awkwardly shrugged out of his blazer and passed it over, letting Tim cover up. “You’re not gonna believe this, but I’m Agent Stevens, and I’ve been investigating your disappearance,” Sammy said.

Tim looked embarrassed. “There’s not a lot I wouldn’t believe. How long have I been gone?”

“About eleven days now, I think. Care to explain?”

“I was a pilot. You knew that, right?” Sammy nodded. “Right, okay. I was discharged about a year ago, but when I was sent home it was to the Science Institute. I was still working for the military, then. They had me doing testing, flying these - these fancy new planes. Lit up the night sky like nothing else - moved like nothing else, too. Had me doing experiments - hooked me up to machines, had me doing tests of all kinds. They wouldn’t let me talk to Mary and then - then I got home and I saw that  _ other _ me there.”

All of a sudden Sammy heard sirens and looked in his rearview to see Troy’s truck. He pulled over and let Troy walk over to his window, rolling it down only a little.

“Looks like General Abilene got you!” he said cheerfully, and then he saw Tim. “That’s -?”

“Yeah, think so,” Sammy confirmed he decided to ask about whatever it was Troy was talking about later. “Want to meet us at the motel?”

Troy just nodded, looking stunned, and went back to his car.

 

Sammy meant to call Ben on his way back - he really did. But with Tim in the passenger seat and trying to concentrate on driving with the new development, he couldn’t dial someone up.

It didn’t end up mattering, though, because when Sammy got back to the motel with Tim he found Ben and Emily sitting at the desk looking at something.

“You’re back soon!” Ben said nervously, shifting to cover whatever it was he was looking at. “And - shit, is that Tim? Naked?”

“Unfortunately,” Tim said.

Ben jumped up and got a pair of jeans from his drawer. “Put these on.” He threw them towards Tim, who dropped the blazer to catch them. Emily looked away as he pulled them on without seeming to care.

“We’re talking about this,” Sammy indicated the whole set up on the desk, “later.”

Ben ignored him and looked at Tim. “What happened? Where were you?”

Troy walked into the motel room, locking it behind him and sliding the chain into place for good measure. “I’d sure like an answer to that, too.”

Tim sat down, looking a little overwhelmed. Slowly, he told them that he’d told Sammy. “Can I go home now?” he asked when he was done, looking at them pleadingly. “I just want to go home.”

“I don’t -” Ben turned to Sammy. “Can we?”

Sammy looked at Tim. “How did you escape? You haven’t told us that, yet.”

“I don’t think I did, really,” Tim said. “The first time, when I was just working there, they just let me go home. And then two weeks later, they snatched me up again. Sent the other pilots to do it, too. Then I - I don’t remember. Until yesterday, there was just - darkness. And then I saw light and followed it.”

“Is that metaphorical?” Sammy asked.

Tim shook his head. “No, I was - not asleep. In stasis? I was sort of aware that things were happening around me, could hear people talking even though I couldn’t understand them, but it was completely black. I couldn’t move. And then I saw a light in front of me, and I just… I followed it. I don’t know what it was.”

“Could it have been us opening the door?” Ben asked Emily.

“I don’t know,” Emily admitted. “The people I saw were all - they weren’t fully formed, and Tim looks normal.”

“Can I go home?” Tim asked again.

The four other people looked at each other.

“We’ll bring you to Mary,” Sammy decided. 

 

Mary opened the door and covered her mouth. “Which one is that?” she demanded, keeping part of her body behind the doorway as if to protect herself.

“We think it’s really him, Mary,” Ben said. 

Tim got out of the car and looked at her with something that wasn’t quite a smile on his face. And she started to cry.

 

After a long discussion of what the repercussions might be, Mary insisted that Tim would stay with her. Sammy and Ben made them promise to call at the first sign of trouble, but there wasn’t much they can do - Tim was an adult, and if he wasn’t missing then there wasn’t a case for them to investigate. 

While they were talking to Mary it had gotten grey and dark and started to rain, so Sammy took them back to the motel. “Should we just… leave now?” he wondered. “Do you want to wait until the morning?”

Ben shook his head. “I’m exhausted, but it isn’t late enough to justify to Director Spears why we bought another night in this room. If the F.B.I. is even the one paying for it.”

“They are,” Sammy confirmed. “Because this  _ was _ a case.”

Ben didn’t look convinced. “Let’s just grab our stuff and go.”

Sammy went along without protest, gathering up his small bag and putting it in the trunk. They were on the road within ten minutes, neither of them having brought much with them.

The rain started coming down harder as they got onto Route 72. 

“God, I can’t see a thing,” Sammy muttered, clicking the windshield wipers into the highest gear.

“Should we turn back?” Ben asked. “I think accounting would understand.”

Sammy glanced at the clock. 4:03. “No, I think we’re good. It isn’t that far, and there’s no one else on the road.”

Lightning struck the road ahead as he spoke, filling the window with light. Sammy swerved instinctively and the car stalled, radio sputtering out. He took a breath and looked at the clock. 4:13.

He opened the car door, feeling the rain rush in, and looked around. He found the purple X he’d painted on the road just next to them. “Thought so,” he muttered to himself, closing the door and starting the car again.

“Did we just -?”

“Yeah.”

“How did you know?” Ben demanded.

Sammy shrugged. “You get a knack for these things, kid.”

“But you don’t - you don’t think there’s anything weird going on here?”

“Weird?” Sammy repeated. “Absolutely.”

“Paranormal, then. Extra-sensory. Supernatural. Alien. Spiritual. None of that?”

Sammy shook his head. “Human perception is incredibly fallible.”

“We just lost  _ nine minutes _ because of a lightning strike. Explain that to me.”

“You’re the doctor.”

“I’m not a meteorologist!” Sammy didn’t reply as the rain started to let up. “Are you ever going to tell me why you do this job?” Ben asked.

“Maybe one day,” Sammy conceded. “It isn’t because I believe in anything - anything  _ more _ than what we can see. Just that sometimes what we see isn’t what’s really happening.”

Ben sighed. “That’s barely an answer.”

Sammy shrugged. “Guess you’ll have to decide if it’s enough for you to keep working with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know what you thought of this!!! I really appreciated your comments on the first chapter and I will continue to appreciate them very much as I continue to work on this series!


	3. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was gonna wait until tomorrow to post this but this whole series is officially plotted in its entirety so you know what? I'm valid. I'm gonna start writing the second fic tomorrow and it'll probably be up by the end of the week. I don't want to spoil but it's... much more humorous than this one. Call it an interlude.
> 
> Your comments are so, so appreciated!! I'm very proud of how this series is turning out and I'm working hard to do it justice! Comments bring me the #validity I need to power through writing this.

“You asked to see me?” Sammy asked, poking his head into Director Reagan Spears’ office.

She looked up from her work. “Yes. Agent Arnold just e-mailed me his report about your last… case, and I wanted to discuss it. Take a seat.” She waved to the plush armchairs in front of her desk and he went to sit in the one closest to the door. 

“I’m not sure what he said in the report, so I don’t know what you want to talk about,” he admitted.

“Sammy,” she said, looking at him across the desk. “I know things have been hard for you the last two months, since-”

“Reagan,” he interrupted warningly.

“I know it’s been hard since Jack disappeared,” she repeated, leveling him with a look that said he would have gotten berated for the interruption in any other circumstance. Sammy sucked in a sharp breath. “Did you find what you needed on that case?”

Sammy shook his head. “I - I tried, but it’s bigger than I thought it was. I don’t even think I know where to start. The Deputy - Troy Kriegshauser, I’m sure he’s in the report - he gave me a number to call.”

“Did you call them?”

“No; I started to but that’s when Lieutenant Jensen ran in front of the car.” Sammy sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “I don’t even know what I don’t know, honestly. I can barely ask questions because I’m just so in the dark.”

Reagan gave him a sympathetic look. “Call them, ask anything and see what they can tell you. If you need to go back to King Falls, I’ll find you something.” She sighed and leaned back. “I want to find Jack, too. He’s one of our best agents, and I consider you both friends.”

“Thank you. You’re a good friend, too.”

She smiled at him. “I’ve seen what not having him here has done to you. We’re going to do our best to get your fiancé back, okay? You have my word.”

Sammy nodded and stood up. “I’ll call you if I find anything,” he promised.

“Call me if you  _ need _ anything, too,” she added. “Even if it’s just to watch the Golden Girls.”

Sammy couldn’t help but laugh. “Sure. I’ll let you know when that happens.”

“Make sure you do, Stevens. Take care of yourself, okay?”

Sammy smiled at her reassuringly. “Okay.” He walked out of the office, closing the door behind him and made his way to his basement office. Ben wasn’t in, or he hadn’t been when Sammy had stopped by before his meeting with Reagan. He walked into the office, which looked about five square feet smaller than it was for all the filing cabinets and stacked boxes of case files, and went into the middle of it, looking at the poster behind the desk chair. Jack’s poster, the only one not overlapped by others.

_ I Want To Believe _ , it said, under a UFO in blue skies.

Sammy smiled when he remembered Jack putting it up.  _ Me, too _ , he thought. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey there. That was kinda weird, huh? Please leave a comment and let me know what you're thinking about this. It's gonna be part of a sizeable series, and I really want to know what people think about it as I move forwards with working on it. Comments are the validation I will need to get me through, tbh.


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